My newest creation

I pulled out my (dusty) sewing machine today to make something I saw on a blog the other day. Again, my creative juices have been flowing lately and I couldn't wait to try this out. I found this tutorial from this blog on how to make a girls dress out of an old t-shirt. Here is the t-shirt I used before I cut it up...

And here's Allie's new dress!..


It was a little harder than I thought. Both shirts I used (for the dress and the ruffle at the bottom) were a really soft, stretchy cotton so it was difficult to sew and it came out a little longer than I wanted but I can't wait to try making another one. I know, Allie is my first born and she's already wearing hand-me-downs but I don't think she cares!

Two Amazing Baby Boys

I saw two of my very, very dear friends today at the hospital. One for a great reason and one, not so great. But in the end, all was the same because both of their sons are amazing.

First, Alison gave birth to a baby boy early this morning, Fischer Charles Robinson. Although his arrival didn't come quite as planned (he was almost a week LATE, Alison had to have an emergency c-section and the cord was wrapped around Fischer's neck) both him and Alison are doing GREAT! He is such a cute little boy. Alison is so incredibly calm, patient and caring. She is already such a great mommy, you can just feel the love pouring out of her.

Second, Andrea's 4 month old little boy Graham had surgery today to fix an inguinal hernia. I can't imagine having my child go through surgery, let alone having my BABY go through surgery. I can't even put into words how much I admire Andrea. She has this incredible strength, faith and calmness about her. God definitely knew what he was doing when he picked Andrea and Justin to be Graham's parents. Graham has a long road ahead but it's such a comfort knowing Who is in control.

Crafty Lady

I've been feeling very crafty lately. Maybe because I haven't made any hand-made creations lately or maybe because I've been feeling very inspired by some blogs I've read. But I've had the urge to create some things.

I think that working in hotels for many years inspired this first project. I can't tell you how many times I've walked down hallways lined with numbered doors. I've seen letters like these before so I decided to make my own using wire, glass pearls and a hot glue gun to mark our doorways in our home. There's a letter 'A' in next to Allie's bedroom door, and the letters 'M' and 'H' next to our master bedroom door. I can't wait to add some more letters to other bedroom doors when we decide to have some more munchkins. :)




And this next project came after walking through some model homes with my best decorating friend Bri. Bri and I love to get ideas from other people's homes (and I've actual gotten many of my ideas from Bri's amazing home!)


These 'his' and 'hers' signs hang above our towel hooks in our master bathroom. I got the wood plaques from Joanns, painted them first chocolate brown and then white. I sanded the edges so that the brown would show through. Then I got some vinyl letters here and stuck them on. Viola! Now Matt will always know which towel is his!

An (almost) perfect day in Prescott

On Tuesday, Matt, Allie and I spent the day up in Prescott. My parents are building a house up there (which is ALMOST done) and since they are out of the country for a while, we thought we'd go up and check out the progress (and take advantage of all the amenities their community has to offer!)
Allie always does such a good job on the drive. Unfortunately she NEVER sleeps but she does find ways to entertain herself. We heard some giggling in the back seat and found her like this...


Our first stop was to check out the house. Here it is... Exterior landscaping is all that's left on the outside. The inside is almost done except for the flooring, kitchen countertops and all the finishings.


We brought Allie's bike trailer so we checked out some bikes from the clubhouse and went on a long bike ride around the Talking Rock community. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this!

Then we had lunch at Coop's. Look at the amazing view from the patio where we ate.


Off to the pool! There is a kiddie pool right next to the main pool that Allie LOVES!!! The whole thing is a foot and a half deep so it is perfect for Allie to reach the bottom and walk when she is in her raft. We were hoping that 'walking' all over the pool may give her some confidence to actual walk on her own, but NOPE, didn't work! She's still a crawler! Oh well!


Naptime, well, kinda. We set up Allie's pack-n-play under the pool patio and covered it with a sheet. Do you see that big bump in the middle? Yes, that would be Allie's head. Needless to say it took her a while to fall asleep since she was exploring her 'cave'. :)


After some relaxing by the pool we headed home. The only thing that would make the trip perfect, is if the house were done and we could just drive 2 minutes instead of 2 hours! But pretty soon we will have a nice little vacation home, thanks mom and dad!!!

Our (slimy) little friend

After this post you are probably going to think to yourself, 'wow, I'm glad I don't live where Matt and Heather live!' But to be honest, of all the 'creatures' we have found around our house, none of them have been IN our house. I'm all about nature so 'whoever' wants to venture into our front yard is fine with me (note that I said FRONT yard because I was not too fond of the rattlesnake that was in our BACKyard a few weeks ago!) Anyways, I digress, sorry. Last night, Matt, Allie and I were getting out of the car when Matt went over to our side yard. He came back promptly and said in a whisper 'Heather, go look against the side of the house right below the hose'. My first thought was, 'Yeah right, I really don't want to look at another rattlesnake'. But after some convincing I checked it out and below is what I found...

Yep, a big 'ol frog. And I mean BIG. This sucker was probably 5 or 6 inches wide and just chillin against the side of our house. You can see he (or she I suppose) somehow pushed away the gravel and made a nice little resting place in the soft dirt. It was kinda fun seeing him. I do enjoy seeing all the animals in our neighborhood...rabbits, groundhogs, coyotes and now frogs. But snakes and scorpions, stay away please!

Introducing the new Mrs. Abram!!!!

That's right, Matt's middle brother Greg (ahem, finally) asked Brittney to marry him this past weekend!!! Matt and I are so excited to have Brittney as a sister-in-law. (After 27 years of only having brothers, I have gained TWO sisters in the past year and a half! It's the best!) Greg and Brittney are so cute together and so perfectly matched by God. Brittney is a total southern belle (born and raised in Tennessee). She is incredibly sweet and caring, so much fun to be around, she can totally hold her own when she is around the Abram clan (which is no easy task at times!) and she is head over heels in love with Greg (which is completely reciprocated by him:) We are so excited that God brought them together and cannot wait for the wedding. Congratulations Greg and Brittney, we love you!!!

Isabella is 4!!!

3 years and 3 months ago God brought an amazing family into our lives, the Andersons. They have been the best of friends to us since the moment we met them and I can't believe that through this relationship, today we are celebrating the 4th birthday of their oldest child, who also happens to be our goddaughter, Bella. Bella is such an amazing little girl...she is so beautiful both inside and out, she is super shy yet outgoing at the same time, she has such a contagious smile and laughter, she is a total girly girl (by some influence from her mom:), and she is so loving and thoughtful. Bella is such a light in our lives and we are so honored to be her godparents! We love you Bella, happy birthday!

Top Chef

The other night Matt's youngest brother, Will, came over for dinner. Somehow we got on a conversation about Orange Julius. Do you remember Orange Julius? Weren't they always next to Hot Dog on a Stick? Anyways, Matt and I both claimed that we make the best homemade orange julius. And since there were three Abrams in the room, it turned into a big competition (when I was a McGuire, I would have never cared who made the best anything!) So of course, Will became our taste tester for the cooking competition, or rather, our blending competition for this matter...

Our two lovely drinks, Will of course did not know who's was who's


Will tasting both of our creations


And the winner is....



Yep, mine!!! Matt does NOT like to lose, especially to his wife, but he took it pretty well. (Besides the fact that he blamed the loss on the fact that he had to make his first so it sat in the fridge, we didn't have enough milk and the lighting in the kitchen was just not right.)

The 'I hate it, I just hate it' haircut

Those of you who have been around Allie know that she's a pretty content little girl. Of course she has her occasional meltdowns and periods of fussiness, but for the most part she is on the easy/laid back/ happy end of the baby spectrum. Unless, of course, during the important, only happens once, times of her life. For instance, her first birthday...cried pretty much through her entire party. Our family photo shoot...let's just pray that there's at least one picture where she doesn't have a look of devastation on her face (we haven't gotten the pictures back yet so I'm still a little scared). And then there was today...her first haircut. Seriously, you wouldn't think that an event where she got to sit in a fun chair, in a fun barber shop, watching a fun movie would cause her world to come crumbling down, but of course it did! But I suppose once again, I'll just chalk the experience up to more fun memories because the pictures are hilarious! Please witness this traumatic event below...

It started right away, as soon as the guy put the cape on her, the tears started coming down...


There was a momentary pause when we offered Allie some Cheerios (aka, the magic snack)...

But the magic didn't last long...

I hate it mommy, he took way too much off the sides!...

Memories!!! Gotta love em!

Dancing with the Angels..

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Ashley Kulialeilani Lovell
2-8-1978 ~ 8-3-2004

I miss you Kulia!